Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia as an early intervention of mood disorders with comorbid insomnia: A randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of small-group nurse-administered cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBTI) as an early intervention of mood disorders with comorbid insomnia. METHODS: A total of 200 patients with first-episode depressive or bipolar disorders and comorbid insomnia were randomized in a ratio of 1:1 to receiving 4-session CBTI or not in a routine psychiatric care setting. Primary outcome was Insomnia Severity Index. Secondary outcomes included response and remission status; daytime symptomatology and quality of life; medication burden; sleep-related cognitions and behaviours; and the credibility, satisfaction, adherence and adverse events of CBTI. Assessments were conducted at baseline, 3, 6, and 12-month. RESULTS: Only a significant time-effect but no group-by-time interaction was found in the primary outcome. Several secondary outcomes had significantly greater improvements in CBTI group, including higher depression remission at 12-month (59.7% vs. 37.9%, χ2 = 6.57, p = .01), lower anxiolytic use at 3-month (18.1% vs. 33.3%, χ2 = 4.72, p = .03) and 12-month (12.5% vs. 25.8%, χ2 = 3.26, p = .047), and lesser sleep-related dysfunctional cognitions at 3 and 6-month (mixed-effects model, F = 5.12, p = .001 and .03, respectively). Depression remission rate was 28.6%, 40.3%, and 59.7% at 3, 6, and 12-month, respectively in CBTI group and 28.4%, 31.1%, and 37.9%, respectively in no CBTI group. CONCLUSION: CBTI may be a useful early intervention to enhance depression remission and reduce medication burden in patients with first-episode depressive disorder and comorbid insomnia.

Changes in Stigma Experience Among Mental Health Service Users over Time: A Qualitative Study with Focus Groups.

Public expenditure on mental health education has grown exponentially in the past two decades. A qualitative study using focus groups was used to explore whether the experience of stigma among 22 mental health service users improved over time. We identified five major themes on changes in social stigma, perceived stigma, and stigma coping. Stigmatizing and discriminatory experiences were still common in workplace, healthcare system, and relational aspects but some participants perceived that there were reductions in social stigma. Participants believed that media portrayal and celebrity effect were important in fostering greater acceptance toward people with mental illness and the importance of family support and stigma resistance for minimizing the harmful impacts of stigma. The findings are important in the future design of public educational and stigma reduction programs.

Experience of stigma among mental health service users in Hong Kong: Are there changes between 2001 and 2017?

BACKGROUND: Public expenditure on mental health education has grown exponentially in the past two decades. Does the experience of stigma among people with mental health problems improve over time? Our study aims to compare the levels of perceived stigmatization, rejection experiences and stigma-coping among mental health service users in Hong Kong between 2001 and 2017 using longitudinal and repeated cross-sectional study design. METHOD: The baseline survey was completed by 193 psychiatric outpatients in 2001. They were traced for re-assessment in 2017. Another sample of 193 outpatients matched in age, gender and psychiatric diagnosis was recruited in 2017 for cross-sectional comparison. Participants completed a 39-item questionnaire on stigma experiences, Beck Depression Inventory and Disability Assessment Schedule at both time points. RESULTS: In total, 109 of 193 participants (56.5%) of the 2001 survey were re-assessed. No significant change in perceived stigmatization, rejection experiences and stigma-coping was found among the 109 participants interviewed in 2001 and 2017. For cross-sectional comparison, significant differences in two perceived stigma items were observed upon Bonferroni correction (chi-square test, p < .005) and remained significant after controlling for confounding factors by regression analysis. Improvements in perceived stigmatization were on marriage and friendship, while viewpoints on trustworthiness, dangerousness, devaluation, avoidance and personal failure remained unchanged, and there was no improvement in rejection experiences and stigma-coping. CONCLUSION: Positive attitude changes over time are unlikely to occur if there is no targeted intervention on stigma. Our findings highlight that evidence-based antistigma interventions are urgently needed.

Hypnotherapy for insomnia: A randomized controlled trial comparing generic and disease-specific suggestions.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Hypnotherapy is commonly used for treating insomnia, but a definite conclusion regarding its safety and effectiveness is unavailable due to a lack of adverse event monitoring and comparison between generic and disease-specific hypnotic suggestions in previous studies. DESIGN: Randomized controlled, participant-blind, parallel-group with subject recruitment after trial registry. INTERVENTIONS: Sixty participants were randomized to receive 4-week once-weekly 1-hour hypnotherapy with disease-specific suggestions (using counter-hyperarousal hypnotic exercise and screen visualization technique targeted at insomnia-related anxieties) or generic suggestions (using thought distraction technique and suggestions for self-confidence and self-care enhancement). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcome was sleep efficiency (SE) derived from 1-week sleep diary at weeks 4, 6 and 9. Secondary outcomes included other sleep-diary parameters, Insomnia Severity Index, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Sheehan Disability Index. Treatment expectancy, adverse events (AEs), and subjective experiences were obtained after hypnotherapy sessions 2 and 4. RESULTS: Mixed linear modeling showed that time effect was significant for most variables. Within-group effect size of sleep-diary-derived SE from baseline to follow-up ranged from 0.70 to 0.90 for disease-specific suggestions (mean difference: 8.5-10.4%); for generic suggestions, it was 0.65-0.69 (mean difference: 6.8-8.3%); however, no significant between-group difference was found. Discontinuation rate was 10%, report of unpleasantness varied from 5.5 to 7.4%, while the incidence of AEs ranged from 37.0 to 51.8%, depending on session content. CONCLUSION: Hypnotherapy using disease-specific and generic suggestions produced similar improvements in sleep and daytime functioning. AEs were common but mostly mild. The finding raises doubts about the value of disease-specific suggestions in hypnotherapy for insomnia. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This clinical trial was registered on 23 May 2014 at the University of Hong Kong Clinical Trials Registry as "Hypnotherapy for insomnia: a randomized placebo-controlled trial" (HKUCTR-1874).

Sleep hygiene education as a treatment of insomnia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Sleep hygiene education (SHE) is commonly used as a treatment of insomnia in general practice. Whether SHE or cognitive-behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), a treatment with stronger evidence base, should be provided first remains unclear. Objective: To review the efficacy of SHE for poor sleep or insomnia. Methods: We systematically searched six key electronic databases up until May 2017. Two researchers independently selected relevant publications, extracted data and evaluated methodological quality according to the Cochrane criteria. Results: Twelve of 15 studies compared SHE with CBT-I, three with mindfulness-based therapy, but none with sham or no treatment. General knowledge about sleep, substance use, regular exercise and bedroom arrangement were commonly covered; sleep-wake regularity and avoidance of daytime naps in seven programs, but stress management in only five programs. Major findings include (i) there were significant pre- to post-treatment improvements following SHE, with small to medium effect size; (ii) SHE was significantly less efficacious than CBT-I, with difference in effect size ranging from medium to large; (iii) pre- to post-treatment improvement and SHE-CBT-I difference averaged at 5% and 8% in sleep-diary-derived sleep efficiency, respectively, and two points in Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index; (iv) only subjective measures were significant and (v) no data on acceptability, adherence, understanding and cost-effectiveness. Conclusions: Although SHE is less effective than CBT-I, unanswered methodological and implementation issues prevent a firm conclusion to be made on whether SHE has a role in a stepped-care model for insomnia in primary care.

Correlates and prognostic relevance of sleep irregularity in inter-episode bipolar disorder.

OBJECTIVES: Sleep-wake disturbances, such as sleep irregularity, are common in bipolar disorder. Early studies suggest that sleep irregularity is associated with mood symptoms in bipolar disorder, but little research has been conducted to identify other correlates of sleep irregularity. We investigated the relationship between sleep irregularity and sleep quality, social rhythms, eveningness, sleep-related cognitions and behaviors, and past and future mood episodes in 84 patients with inter-episode bipolar I or II disorder. METHODS: This is a retrospective and prospective, naturalistic follow-up study. The Expanded Consensus Sleep Diary, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Social Rhythm Metric (SRM-II-5), Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM), Dysfunctional Beliefs and Attitudes About Sleep Scale (DBAS-16), and Sleep Hygiene Practice Scale (SHPS) were administered. The Square Successive Difference (SSD), derived from a week-long sleep diary, was used as an index of sleep irregularity. Multilevel modeling analysis, which adjusts for biases in parameter estimates, was used to minimize the impact of missing data. Bonferroni correction was performed to account for multiple testing. RESULTS: Higher SSD scores of sleep diary variables were significantly associated with higher PSQI, SRM-II-5, DBAS-16, and SHPS scores. Irregularity in total sleep time was related to more depressive episodes in the past 5years (p=.002), while irregularity in wake after sleep onset predicted the onset of depressive episodes over the next 2years (p=.002). CONCLUSION: Sleep irregularity was associated with poor sleep quality, irregular social rhythms, dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions and behaviors, and greater number of depressive episodes in bipolar disorder.

Eveningness and Its Associated Impairments in Remitted Bipolar Disorder.

Sleep-wake and circadian rhythm disturbances are common in remitted bipolar disorder. These disturbances include difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep, daytime sleepiness, sleep irregularity, and a circadian tendency toward eveningness. To date, few studies have examined the impact of eveningness on impairments in remitted bipolar disorder. Ninety-eight adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder I, II, or not otherwise specified were evaluated. Hierarchical linear regression analyses showed that eveningness was associated with greater sleep-wake disturbances, more unhealthy dietary habits, worse quality of life, more impaired interpersonal relationships, and more dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions and behaviors, controlling for age, gender, and years of education. Targeted intervention on dysfunctional sleep-related cognitions and behaviors may reverse eveningness and improve functioning in bipolar disorder.